And some visual ones that we can’t really see.
Swedish luxury marque Volvo has updated its XC90 flagship SUV, bringing changes to the car that ‘rebooted’ the brand as we know it. We lauded it when it arrived for its bold & elegant design and, as it still looks as fresh as when we first clapped eyes on it, Volvo’s changed about nothing with it.
This writer considers himself a Volvo fan, but even then it’s hard to spot what’s been changed. Volvo says that the grille is new with concave slats (replacing the old straight ones), and the lower-half of the bumper has been revised slightly. But that’s about it, unless you count new paint & alloy wheel options as ‘style revisions.’
In typical Volvo fashion, they’ve focused on the bits you can’t see with the MY20 update. Under the bonnet sits a range of new mild-hybrid petrol & diesel engines, which will bear the ‘B’ badge regardless of chosen combustible. There will be B5-badged petrol & diesel engines in Europe, along with a more powerful B6 petrol. Outputs weren’t detailed, but Volvo says the B engines have been paired with upgraded kinetic energy recovery via a brake-by-wire system, improving efficiency by some 15%.
The T8-powered XC90 also gains the same brake-by-wire system along with an upgraded battery pack, resulting in a 15% improvement in all-electric range.
The B MHEV engines will trickle down to other SPA-based Volvos like the 90-Series and 60-Series, with the XC60 benefitting from an all-new B4 petrol too.
The MY20 XC90 also gains much-appreciated updates like the inclusion of Android Auto, the omission of which had to be the only evidence that the big Volvo’s been around since 2014. Volvo’s also rolled out some upgrades to the XC90’s advanced driver assistance suite, which now includes oncoming lane mitigation (preventing you from crossing into the path of an oncoming car).
The MY20 Volvo XC90 will commence production in May, with units arriving in Australia around September. However, it’s unclear when the mild-hybrid B models will be arriving, though a certain date is set to be publicised in the near future.
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